So after reading here and there about the plastic dipstick breaking, and experiencing how hard it was to push in the tube, I bought one of the spiffy stainless steel spring types with the spiffy billet handle.
And it slid right in like butter. Then I had the thought that I better check the length against the original. I'm glad I did as the spiffy new one was about 10mm longer, or almost a quart of oil difference in length.
Really? You had one job to do...
It was an easy fix as the spring is held into the billet handle by a small set screw with a point that separates one side of the spring and pins the spring on the other side.
Not sure if this is all brands but worth checking before just shoving it in. [I guess that true for many things...]

Pic's below.
robj



it even says "Mini Model"!



You would end up almost a quart low, all the time.



just about 10mm exactly.

You can see the Allen head wrench in the first shot if you missed it.
One job to do!

 

It reminds me of the time I bought a ruler from my local Chinatown office supply store with low prices. Got back to work and realized it was 11" foot.

 

"but worth checking before just shoving it in. [I guess that true for many things...]" I feel theres some humour there somewhere The Cravenspeed dipstick is also longer than the original.I just did an oil change on our R53 using 4.3L of oil checked with the original dip and from what I could tell level looked spot on. When I used the Craven I just bought, it read over the top.. From my perspective it looked like a loosing proposition.. Just using the OE dipstick for now.

 

If the construction is the same, [ and I would bet they all come from some giant factory in China that makes nothing but dipsticks] it was a pretty easy fix, just cut a little off.
It does go in the tube a lot nicer.
robj

 

Haven't seen the Cravenspeed knockoff before.

I took the advice of @pnwR53S and just used a cheapie repop:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ml#post4349663

Actually better than factory too because it ain't brittle fiberglass.

No problems whatsoever with it.

 

I bought this one.


$24.22 on Amazon.
I looked at the Craven Speed and it looks identical to me. Identical except for the price, $65, more that twice the Amazon item.

I wish I had looked at the Craven Speed first as it had instructions for reading the stick. The Amazon one wasn't too long after all. They just measure full at the top of the metal end.

robj

 

I think that's the one I have. I laid mine out next to the original, and decided that the new Full mark was the top of the tip.

So far so good.
​

 

Our dipstick is made entirely here in Oregon. The spring is completely custom made to our spec because we are particular about how the dipstick bends and flows in the tube. It is longer that the stock unit, but you will find that the top hole on our sinker lines up with the full mark on the stock dipstick. We've got instructions on how to read it on our website: https://www.cravenspeed.com/the-dips...r53-2001-2006/

We've seen these knock-offs begin to pop up, and it's a little disappointing to see people buying them not realizing that they are cheap clones of a high quality american made part. While they may look identical, there are a couple shortcuts being taken in the knockoffs that would prevent me from ever using one in my car. We've been making our dipsticks for nearly 15 years. It started because we were frustrated with the stock stick in our first R53. Over that time we have learned a lot about how they perform and the design has changed significantly. I am certain the people making the knockoffs have not taken into consideration many of the obstacles that need to be overcome when making such an important part. Having seen some of the knockoffs in person I can say that the handles are usually painted as opposed to powder-coated. Also the sinkers that I have seen are merely crimped onto the end of the spring which greatly increases both the likelihood of the sinker detaching from the spring, and the likelihood of the sinker getting snagged on the timing chain guide.

 

Thanks for the information. I'm just wondering, how are the sinkers on yours attached? I looked pretty close at the photos and didn't see any evidence of a weld.
And how are the handles on yours affixed to the spring?

I mean no offense but coming from the boating world I had too many occasions, even when buying from name brand companies, [that used to make all their own products] where I would buy a stainless fitting then order the same fitting again at a high price and come to realize it's not the same fitting, but one made offshore. It felt like the companies were passing off foreign made products but at the same price as when they were made here.
As an experiment I ordered some of the same fittings at a much lower price, [by more than half and obviously made offshore] and what I received was identical to the fittings sold by the "name brand" company.[at the much higher price]
I was able to justify the higher price for the domestically made product but I felt cheated paying the same price from the name brand company for an off-shore part.

I apologize for jumping to the conclusion the same thing was happening with dipsticks.

I guess I had become jaded to this, and I'll be more cognizant in the future.

Thanks,
robj

 

We're working on an in depth how it's made style video for our dipsticks that will go into more detail. As simply as I can describe it here, our sinker is mechanically (not crimped or welded) and chemically bonded to the spring. I'd be extremely impressed if you could even detach the sinker without damaging or cutting the spring and even if you cut the spring right above the sinker, you're still going to have a hard time separating the two. With one of the knockoffs we have here I was able to simply pull on the sinker and it popped right off.

The connection between the handle and the spring is correctly copied from our design. It's just a set screw through the handle and spring.

The handle, sinker, and spring are all made from raw materials within driving distance of our office. They have been for nearly 15 years, and that will never change. One of our main goals for the business is to support the local economy by paying our employees well and working with other local businesses as much as possible. Even the box that the dipstick comes is designed and manufactured in Oregon.